"Hacking Your PDA (Well, it was bound to come up sooner or later)"

I've been pondering this a lot more recently, as a friend haded down his old HP Jornada 420 to me a short while back... The idea dawned on me, when I came up with an idea for a wrist mounted bracket (in essense, converting the PDA into a massive and overpowered wristwatch), when I realized that in order to make such practical, that someone would have to also make a custom driver for the Jornada (and any other WinCE/Palm devices anyone else decides to modify in this manner), however, software/programming isn't exactly my strong suit... That's when it hit me:

If people can modify internet appliances, Tivo recorders, and PC's in order to squeeze every ounce of power and penny out of them, then why shouldn't PDA users? Yeah, it's a tricky job, considering the designs of PDA's, but that is what makes the challenge worthwhile... And considering that these aren't exactly cheap devices, it'd be the perfect weekend project for students on a budget, etc...

I opened up the ol' 420 (duuuuuude, 420!!!), and took a look inside... There is a very obvious socketed RAM/ROM module attached to the mainboard, and upon some further research, I found that there's an upgrade module available for the HP Jornada 680, which, minus it's plastic backing card (loosely clipped onto the circuit board), is exactly the same proportions as the one in my 420... Of course, this is for a handheld PC as opposed to a palm PC, so there may be no compatability whatsoever... However, what if there IS?

Additionally, I'd like to compare the circuitry of an HP 430 to see what exactly the difference is, hardware wise, between the two... If I can find any difference, eventually, I'll pass word along accordingly...

If anybody has a spare 16 meg upgrade chip for the HP Jornada 680 lying around (from a damaged J 680, for example) that they don't need, and can contribute it to my experiments, contact me at the address below... In the event it works, I'll post the names of the contributor, and purchase the module from them, if not, then I'll send it back with some cash to make it worth their while...

Not trying to scam anybody, just trying to give the end users a bit more support in the field of PDA's (and specifically HP victi-er-customers, who deserve a bit better support for their money than HP has given them)...